Empowering Health Care Consumers

Project Title

Jordan Health: Open Notes

Grant Amount

$62,500

Priority Area

Empowering Health Care Consumers

Date Awarded

April 26, 2023

Region

Statewide

Western NY

Status

In Progress

Website

www.jordanhealth.org

Shared visit notes, often referred to as open notes, are an important way to help consumers become active participants in their own care.

When patients have access to their own visit notes written by health care providers, they better remember and act on information discussed during visits, improve communication with their health care team, and better manage their health. The 21st Century Cures Act, a recent federal mandate, requires health care providers to make clinical notes available to patients electronically and at no charge. However, the level of compliance and, most importantly, the proactive use of open notes to improve care vary among health systems. In 2022, NYHealth issued a Request for Proposals (RFP), “From Good to Great: Improving Access to and Use of Patient Visit Notes in Non-Hospital Systems,” to support non-hospital systems across New York State in sharing open notes in compliance with recent federal rules and using open notes to more meaningfully engage patients. In 2023, NYHealth awarded Anthony L. Jordan Health Center a grant to participate in this initiative.

Jordan Health is a federally qualified health center in the Greater Rochester area that provides comprehensive services—including primary care, obstetrics/gynecology, behavioral health, dental health, and medication-assisted treatment—to approximately 38,000 patients annually across 9 sites. Under this grant, Jordan Health will continue to implement and improve the use of shared notes within its system and participate in a technical assistance and peer-learning network. Jordan Health will enhance the sharing and usability of notes through provider training, notes audit, and notes translation. It will also engage a patient advocate to lead patient education, outreach, and navigation efforts to increase use of shared notes and install kiosks for patients to access notes on-site. It will seek patient feedback on these patient engagement and provider training efforts.

See a full list of grantees participating in this initiative.